The Dream talks about turning ‘Birthday Cake’ into a full song

The BoomBox caught up with the self-proclaimed “radio killah” to discuss his new projects and his work with Rihanna.

You also worked with Rihanna on ‘Talk That Talk.’ Can you tell me about the ‘Birthday Cake’ track that was released online?

I was just talking to Rihanna about that, because she [originally] made an [just an] interlude. I was like, “Your fans are going to be so mad at you.” As soon as I said that, I got back, and I guess she released a piece of it, and they saw how long it is. Man, they tore me up on Twitter! So I hit her on the phone. I was like, “Yo, your fans, they’re going crazy on me right now, like I could make you do something.” So ‘Birthday Cake’ is on there. It’s going to turn into a whole song because the fans are ganging up on me, and I don’t want to be murdered by the Rihanna Navy!

There’s another record I did with her called ‘Red Lipstick,’ and another song called ‘Do Your Thing,’ which is probably [one of] the more lighter records on there. I was more called in to fill in the blanks. She’s just so great at putting her records in. She did a great job utilizing what [songwriter] Ester Dean does, who is like my little sister, for this album. I think she has six or seven records on that album. Dean is locked in to what Rihanna’s doing at this particular moment, which is great. I’m at a place where you can call me in as a songwriter, but Ri calls me in as a friend that’s going to make an unbiased decision, not just because I’m trying to get on the record. If it doesn’t need me on the record, I’m not going to get on the record.